“For us, there’s no point palming off the inevitable – together we must end deforestation.”

The news comes after Iceland pledged to remove palm oil from all its own-brand products in a UK first, as part of efforts to halt the threat of wildlife extinction from the destruction of south-east Asian rainforests.

The frozen food grocer said the ingredient had already been removed from half of its own-label range and the rest is expected to be reformulated by the end of this year.

1 COMMENT

As Executive Director of Orangutan Land Trust, an organisation that has been working on the issue of palm oil for over a decade, I am very disappointed in this decision from Selfridges. Those organisations concerned about the impacts of unsustainable palm oil such as my group, Orangutan Land Trust, as well as many others including Sumatran Orangutan Society, Rainforest Alliance, Rainforest Action Network, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Greenpeace, WWF and more all call for the sourcing of deforestation-free Certified Sustainable Palm Oil and warn against a blanket ban. Alternatives to palm oil can have far greater negative impacts, particularly because of their inferior yields. I would like to know if Selfridges consulted with any of these organisations who are actually working on the issue before making this apparently uninformed decision.